Updated January 21, 2019 at 12:55 PM;Posted January 21, 2019 at 12:15 PM

In this Friday, Jan. 18, 2019 image made from video provided by the Survival Media Agency, a teenager wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, center left, stands in front of an elderly Native American singing and playing a drum in Washington. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington in Kentucky is looking into this and other videos that show youths, possibly from the diocese's all-male Covington Catholic High School, mocking Native Americans at a rally in Washington. (Survival Media Agency via AP) (Associated Press)

I am proud of the boys of Covington Catholic High School. They kept their cool and held their ground when taunted Friday by a small group of the Black Hebrew Israelite religious sect and then when confronted by left-wing Native Americans with an ax to grind.

Several of the boys were wearing those bright red Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats; that incensed the Black Hebrew Israelites, who taunted and insulted the boys. After receiving a couple of these vile insults, the boys responded not in kind nor with violence, but by doing some school cheers – the kind sung at pep rallies to build school spirit – after they received permission from their chaperone. This was how the boys chose to defend themselves from the vile insults being hurled at them.

Suddenly, Nathan Phillips, an “elder” in the Omaha tribe and left-wing political activist, started beating his drum and marched, along with a few cohorts, directly into the student group, and stood in front of one of the boys, Nick Sandmann. Phillips sang the American Indian Movement protest song loudly and right in the boy’s face, with his drum stick repeatedly coming just inches from the boy’s nose. The boy did nothing in response to this provocation, showing a level of poise and self-restraint that should serve as model for every young American.

The Black Hebrew Israelites continued to taunt the boys, and when they learned that two of the students were black they zeroed in on them. The students pleaded with the men to stop being racist and to stop being so mean to their black friend. One even reached out his open hand in a gesture of goodwill; this peace offering was rejected and met with more insults.

Fog covers Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Ky., Saturday, Jan 19, 2019. A diocese in Kentucky apologized Saturday after videos emerged showing students from the Catholic boys' high school mocking Native Americans outside the Lincoln Memorial on Friday after a rally in Washington. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston) Bryan Woolston

What in God’s name are these school and church leaders talking about? Those boys did not disrespect Phillips. It was Phillips who disrespected them with his aggressive and confrontational “in your face” activism. The Black Hebrew Israelites’ behavior toward the boys was about as vile and insulting as possible. Those boys, particularly Sandmann, showed an amazing amount of self-control. He should receive a medal of honor by his school and church leaders, not condemnation and threat of expulsion. Their reaction was a stunning betrayal of the truth and of care and concern for their own flock. Those Catholic school and church leaders ready so ready to sacrifice their sons on the altar of political correctness when it was their sons who were the ones being politically correct!